1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a test stand sensor apparatus, including a sensor for acquiring data from the item under test and/or the environment, and a test stand, preferably for prime movers, including at least one test cell with at least one sensor for acquiring data from the item under test and/or the environment, and at least one evaluation and/or memory unit for the data, and, if needed, at least one preparation area for preparing the item under test and/or the at least one sensor.
2. The Prior Art
Test stand arrangements of the cited type are known and used in a very wide variety of construction stages for a very wide variety of measurement tasks in vehicles. Even in the simplest test stands, in which the drive wheels of the vehicle to be tested are placed on a single or double roller of a roller test stand and fixed relative to the roller test stand by means of a suitable fixing device, a complex arrangement of sensors and actuators is used. Therefore, it is necessary, for example, for data from the driven or braked test stand rollers—nowadays usually braked or driven in a controlled manner by means of electrical drive or load machines—to be transmitted from, but also for control signals to be transmitted to the drives of these rollers.
Particularly in the development sector, specifically in engine development, and partly also in the field of final inspection by the vehicle manufacturer, test stand arrangements are used in even further developed stages. In this case, a large number of measurement and supply assemblies are provided for the item under test, for example measurement devices for fuel consumption, exhaust-gas measuring devices, acoustic measuring devices, temperature-monitoring devices for coolants and lubricants and the like, and secondly additional arrangements for conditioning cooling air and cooling water, for separate cooling and treatment of lubricants, and various devices for central measurement data acquisition and evaluation and for controlling the test sequences and the like. All this makes modern test stand arrangements of the type mentioned in the introduction very complicated in terms of construction, and requires a high degree of outlay specifically for optimal laying of measurement and control cables, but also for supplying power to all the sensor and actuator arrangements.
The object of the present invention was therefore to provide a sensor apparatus for test stands of this kind which permits relatively simple and relatively uncomplicated construction of the test stand. However, operational reliability, failure reliability and functional reliability requirements must not be ignored in the process. Simple maintenance should also be ensured.